MEREDA’s Morning Menu Breakfast Event – Opportunity Zones: What You Need to Know to Take Advantage of this Opportunity in Real Estate & Beyond

November 21, 2019 – 7:30 – 9:00 a.m.

Pepperell Mill Campus
40 Main Street
Biddeford, ME

Download the Event Brochure

About the Event:

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created a bi-partisan tax incentive program based on economically distressed Opportunity Zones.  Investors in Qualified Opportunity Zone businesses now have the ability to defer, and to some extent eliminate, recent capital gain income, by properly investing their gain proceeds.  Gov. LePage has designated 32 Opportunity Zones in Maine ranging from Saco to Madawaska, including parts of Downtown Portland, which opens the door for real estate developers pursuing projects in these designated areas to tap into a whole new group of tax savvy investors.

Join MEREDA for breakfast on November, 2019 from 7:30 AM – 9 AM at the Pepperell Mill Campus in Biddeford to learn more about these complicated new rules.  Panelists Andy Smith and Nelson Toner will offer insights about how the legislation will impact the real estate industry and the tax advantages available to investors in Opportunity Zone projects.

About the Presenters:

For more than 30 years, Nelson Toner has practiced law at Bernstein Shur providing tax planning, estate planning and business succession planning to individual and business clients.  Prior to working at Bernstein Shur, Nelson worked in the tax department at the Boston office of Grant Thornton, an international accounting firm during the halcyon days of pre-1986 real estate syndications.  Nelson gives many local and state seminars, including a regular presentation at the Maine Tax Forum each autumn, and for many years taught Estate and Gift Tax at the Maine Law School.  He also writes the S Corporation column for the Journal of Passthrough Entities, a national tax publication.

Nelson earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Trinity College (Hartford), a JD  degree from Case Western Reserve University, and an LLC in taxation from Boston University

Andrew Smith is a principal at Baker Newman Noyes, specializing in assisting his clients with practical advice and creative solutions to their most challenging business issues, including tax efficient structures for business transactions; fixed asset analysis; succession planning; and tax deferral and reduction strategies. He also works with real estate clients of all sizes on cost segregation studies, like-kind exchanges, and historic rehabilitation credits. In addition to serving clients, Andy is also actively involved in the firm’s college recruiting initiatives, having begun his career at the firm in 1997 as an intern and leads the tax department’s Multi-Generational
Business group.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with concentrations in accounting and finance, from the University of Maine, Orono.

Registering for This Event:

Your RSVP is requested by November 14, 2019. Payment is expected at the time of registration. No refunds will be granted  to anyone who registers, but fails to attend or who cancels after November 14.

Ticket Prices:

Members: $45 each | Non-Members: $55 each
Prices increase by $10 after November 14